Do you ever get agitated over things people do that really aren’t that big of a deal? If so, it could be a sign that you would benefit from defending your thinking from mental malpractice.
Mental malpractice is any type of thinking that denies God’s presence. It leads to harm.
For instance, a feeling of, “I get easily ticked off,” is mental malpractice. Or, “My partner keeps doing things that upset me,” is malpractice. Any sensation, suggestion, fear, or belief that would justify nervousness, tension, anxiety, anger, or unkind outburst, is some type of malpractice.
In as much as the human mind may want to justify its agitated feelings and argue that they are unavoidable, the human mind is wrong. Agitation is avoidable and unnecessary.
God created us to be peaceful creatures. We have spiritual sense that allows us to stay in touch with spiritual reality and to feel the innate peace God has given us to experience as a part of Life’s on-going joys.
If mortal mind sends a negative suggestion in the form of “I get easily ticked off,” that suggestion can be quickly reversed with the spiritual truth that we know only how to love! God created man to express love, not angst.
It’s normal for us to love, not to get agitated.
To keep yourself peaceful, prayerfully defend your consciousness from any outside influence that would agitate or upset your perspective. Know that the one Mind alone affects your experience, that you are a peaceful child of God abiding under the influence of divine Love, and that malpractice has no influence over your thought. Find your peace with God and live free of agitation.
“Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake” (Science and Health, p. 442).
This is wonderful advice, Evan. Thank you so much!
Thank you Evan, this is exactly the answer I was looking for today!
“What cannot God do?”. Thank u Evan.
How Beautiful and true. Thank you so very much.
Peter
England
Have you been a fly on the wall at my place Evan? Thank you for pulling us up! GREAT POST!!!
So true Diane❣️Evan found himself flying around my house and my thinking as well. Phew, needed this.
It’s very easy to ignore little things and find that if not dealt with they add up to hungry lions in your path! Thank you Evan for this essential reminder. I guess God is telling me to tame those lions..I just have to listen.❣️
Over the years I often found that I reacted because I did not understand. Mrs. Eddy speaks of “Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and the unreal”.
Instead of reacting to people or circumstances I tried to understand what was behind the situation. Often I saw their pain, insecurity or misunderstanding.. Then I could feel compassion. Instead of being mislead by animal magnetism (the supposition of a power apposed to God) I could see a need and I could cherish divine Love meeting that need.. My compassion and understanding could be a channel for that Love..
Compassion not reaction.
beautiful!
Irritation is mortal mind’s favorite game with me. I so appreciate this morning’s inspiration.
Always so grateful for your Spirit view of things…
Thank you ,
Sheree
Perfect answer to current need. How blessed I feel. Thank you
Exactly what meets my need this morning, and I am so very grateful..
Thanks for allowing to see one of my short comings.
I have prayed to be expressive, not reactive.
Yet sometimes especially when in a family situation, I’m being criticized, there’s a reaction.
Reflection takes a thought, but angry reaction is spontaneous when unaware of the danger of doing that.
Humility is the thing to be emphasized. Looking at criticism as something to be desired to help recognize error in our ways is beneficial.
Mrs. Eddy invited criticism. Although I imagine the criticism better be on the mark!
Our leader left wide open the door to spiritual advancement. Looking at one’s own self continually for the sake of improving on a false sense comes with prayer.
Evan’s refection’s are often right on course, in this case exactly so.
Thanks Evan,for feeding this flock with daily advice that is pertinent to our spiritual advancement.
Wonderful, just what I needed to hear! And I need to remind myself that mental malpractice, whether it’s general or specific, ignorant or malicious, is always coming to me under the guise of my own thought, as MBE tells us in “Ways that are Vain.” “Disarming Evil” by Horace Carver in the December 1953 Journal is very helpful.
So grateful, thank you Evan and all!
DISARMING EVIL
https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/3ijox2woa0?s=e
Sent from my iPhone
Way to be on it Kirsten, thank you for sharing the link.
Thank you Kirsten, for the link from the Journal. I didn’t have a chance to look at it until tonight, but the message was exactly what I needed, right here and right now! I so appreciate your contribution.
This article was recommended by my grandmother in a letter she wrote to her sister in 1953…the letter was full of other great metaphysical ideas, as she was a practitioner…
Thank you! I know the thoughts that I think towards you , saith the Lord, thoughts of peace not of evil to give you an expected end. Jer. 29:11.
Thanks Evan and the gang for sharing. Most helpful. Never thought of mortal mind’s behaviour as malpractice before, but its obvious when pointed out. How subtle is that serpent, eh! Must try harder to keep my mind so filled with Truth, Life and Love. Bless everyone
A good wake up call for today! Right now I will “let go and let God” be the only Mind of our family interactions.
Thanks Evan.
Thanks Evan. This is a perfect way to start my day.
Thank you for this wonderful thought. I want to share it with others. It is very pertinent to the times- which throws constant new ones our way- trying to get us to be impressed, react, and Respond ungodlike. A helpful thought to me in these situations is, how would Jesus respond? Which is always lovingly so I much work and progress to work towards.
A CS friend once told me to look at the word emergency (which is often a perspective, followed by a reaction) that our system takes on- whether it is truly “alarming” or not. As a as a Christian Scientist- we are instead, “emerging to see” (Emergency) the truth of the situation. We are spiritual- don’t look at material evidence, see it as God sees, etc….. I love this idea and have applied it to these every day situations that can bring an agitated state or (perceived “emergency”).
I am grateful to teach a wellness program at an elementary and middle school- and I love sharing the thought of “peace” and healthy as our natural state. I cannot share CS at school- but I do my best to and listen to share uplifting ideas based in CS concepts- I work to share concepts where students work to be mindful of their actions and reactions and instead, respond thoughtfully.
Please know I read every post- and every comment. They are filled with nuggets of “daily bread.” Grateful for these daily spiritual perspectives and the responses- I also learn much from.
Onward and upward- (spiritually speaking, of course) to you all.
Thank you for being such a blessing to your community, especially the dear children!
EMERGE – N – CY or
EMERGE – AND – SEE
emerge out of a frightened sense of life in matter to realizing life in Spirit where God’s help is at hand.
– Evan Mehlenbacher
Yes! So helpful. I love it- thank you!
This topic is so very helpful in what seems to be an agitated world of late. Such comforting thoughts of calm are like an oasis to the mortal mind suggestions that would try to disrupt our peace and heavenward direction of thought.
Standing porter at the door of thought is so needed with each mental suggestion that would try to persuade us to think or act otherwise.
At one point in my life I realized that the anger inside of me was not what I wanted to be and so I said to myself I refuse to be the last angry man. I saw the anger as reaction to things that I didn’t understand very well and so I committed myself to the journey of life long learning. Now when I experience anger, I ask myself why and most often the answer is that I am pressing to hard towards the mark or that I am tired and not using what I know spiritually to guide me forward. Sometimes, we have to give ourselves space to listen that that spiritual guidance that comes and can only be recognized by the stillness of listening.
Beautifully said, Joseph. A nugget of wisdom from my CS teacher is, “We do no react. We reflect.” This has helped me immensely over the years. Another gem from a CS lecture is, “Criticism is the inability to see the Christ in another”. My continuing prayer is to see the Christ man or woman or child in all of us.
Very good. Thank you for your prayers, Dear Cathryn. That is helpful for me as well.
As always Evan I so appreciate your inspiration on these blogs. So right on! Thanks to your readers for their inspiration also.
This is so helpful, Evan. Mrs. Eddy tells us that the reverse of error is true, so the spiritual truth that “we know only how to love,” is the perfect antidote to irritation of any kind. Thank you, Evan, and all for your spiritual insights that lift me up each day.
Thank you Evan for Spiritual view. Gre
Thank you Evan for spiritual view. Great way to begin our day. Also thank you for all spiritual remarks from subscribers.
Wonderful post topic today, thank you for addressing it. Unnecessary agitation is really trying to bombard us all right now! I have been thinking a lot lately about the S&H quote in the post: “Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake” (Science and Health, p. 442).
It connects nicely with the recent Annual Meeting Topic: “our duty to God to our leader, and to mankind” which is based on “Alertness to Duty” from our manual. For anyone who has not watched/listened to the annual meeting (or who would benefit from watching/listening again), it’s really good. It can be accessed at Christian science.com and hopefully the link I’m sharing will work.
https://www.christianscience.com/additional-resources/annual-meeting?icid=Homepage:slot2:WATCH
Thank you, Evan! Last night I felt the need to pray for an attitude adjustment, a cleansing and purifying of my thoughts, for thoughts that I’ve allowed to invade my thinking, due to the length of this social isolation. Today’s post is perfect. I take it as an answer to my prayers. It’s a wonderful reminder to stay focused on God’s Truth. I am grateful for CS, and for your wonderful post!
Your message this morning was put to the test. When I awoke at 5:30 am, to drive my son to his “essential” job, I prepared to do just that, so I continued preparations. When he left his bathroom, he reported he’d not felt well; he called it in to his “essential job” workplace by 6:30 am, as required. The response was for him to be tested for the Covid-19 virus, because a co-worker had failed their routine daily check at the door, so any other co-worker who wasn’t healthy was required to be tested; results in hand, and a green light to GO back to work, before he could return to his duties. So as he prepared, I prepared mentally to see God in all this human activity, by locating a nearby testing site, one which required no appointment, and that was open(ing) early. As the events unfolded, all was accomplished, except to verify how long he would be away from work. That was revealed after he was tested; the wait for the results were expected to be 48 hours. God had revealed all the good in this event. The “irritation” factor was neutralized, as God has directed my son to stay apart, quiet, until he has cleared the human hurdles, then return to accomplish essential work.
Thank you Evan for addressing this important topic. I must confess that I grapple with this agitation, losing my temper and as you called “unkind outbursts.”
I have at times tried to justify this behavior to my husband by saying, all of us are sometimes not at our best and he shouldn’t get upset to see me act angrily, that it just goes with the territory of marriage and when you love someone you will see them at their best and worst. There is some truth in that but I think I have been engaged in mental malpractice without even realizing it, eye-opener. I have believed something untrue about myself as God’s image.
I rededicate to praying to see the true picture of man, in myself and others. I cannot witness a false picture of myself that material belief suggests. I am the expression of Love, Peace, Kindness and Compassion. Thank you so much to all the commenters for sharing your spiritual wisdom!
Makes me think of a great little book called “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff -And it’s all Small Stuff”. Don’t remember the author.
Thanks everyone for your comments and spiritual thoughts. Thanks to Evan for bringing to the surface the picture that must be eradicated from thought and to put God first and all good will follow!
Thanks one and all for your helpful insights and Evan for your offering of daily bread. I get a lot of practice working my way from angry thoughts and Gratitude for all the good received shifts my thinking to a higher view dissolving the anger opening a larger view of all God’s goodness. So grateful for the blessing of Christian Science.
Thank you Evan, you are so “in touch ” with current thought.
Earlier this evening, I found myself feeling I would be justified in giving vent to my self justified feelings.
Then a line from a Hymn popped into my thought, “make self righteousness be still” this angel thought stopped my in my tracks, vapourised the feelings of self and I spent a joyful period contemplating the whole Hymn which was originally a poem by Mary Baker Eddy:
“FEED MY SHEEP”
MARY BAKER EDDY
Shepherd, show me how to go
O’er the hillside steep,
How to gather, how to sow,—
How to feed Thy sheep;
I will listen for Thy voice,
Lest my footsteps stray;
I will follow and rejoice
All the rugged way.
Thou wilt bind the stubborn will,
Wound the callous breast,
Make self-righteousness be still,
Break earth’s stupid rest.
Strangers on a barren shore,
Lab’ring long and lone,
We would enter by the door,
And Thou know’st Thine own;
So, when day grows dark and cold,
Tear or triumph harms,
Lead Thy lambkins to the fold,
Take them in Thine arms;
Feed the hungry, heal the heart,
Till the morning’s beam;
White as wool, ere they depart,
Shepherd, wash them clean.
Thank you Shelagh for giving the complete Hymn by MBE. .It is wonderful indeed! 🙂
Thank you very much, this message was exactly what I needed today.
Thank you very very much, dear Evan for today’s SpiritView!
I just opened SH by chance and read this on p. 454: “Teach your students the omnipotence of Truth, which illustrates the impotence of error. The understanding, even in a degree, of the divine All-power destroys fear, and plants the feet in the true path.” This is just what you are doing with this wonderful SpiritView, Evan!
I only took a quiet time to study this SpiritView this evening. During the day I had a situation where I stood with my car in a forbidden parking place. A police officer came, I must pay for it. I said kindly if he could leave that ticket and I will take my car to another allowed place. He answered very rude and placed the ticket on the front window. I stood calm and did not react. I took the ticket and drove the car to another place where I was allowed to park. But now I had to wrestle with a wrong picture of the police officer. I prayed to know him as a perfect and loving child of God. And I tried to love him until I was back in our Readingroom working again. I am glad that I did not react, rather worked to nullify the mental malpractise, which has no power at all.
Thanks so much to God and to Mrs. Eddy giving us this utmost wonderful teaching of CS 🙂
Great job Uta in rising above the apparent mortal scene and knowing that you cannot be tricked into seeing a false picture of man. You also helped that police officer so much in ways you may never know, by seeing him in his true Light as God’s child.
Wonderful thank you ! X
Thank you so much Evan for this very timely message, and to all the other helpful comments.
What a blessing each and every comment is – thanks to all. I have a very brief thought that I hold onto “Gratitude is riches, complaint is poverty.” It’s been very helpful when tempted to complain, I find something to be grateful for first.
Evan, thank you for these practical, beautiful ideas! I love SpiritView and all the fabulous ways you share the healing truths, including helpful comments and links from followers. I share them regularly with my sister and my friend, and she shares them with her dad. Thank you God for giving us the angel messages we need!
Agitation!! I find myself in a difficult situation that I continue to get easily agitated with. I was so agitated that I had to remove myself and I decided to read. I opened this SpiritView on agitation. Wow! A direct message to me. A way out of this hold it has on me. A beautiful path to walk on and plant myself there.
I have been studying a lot with the terms animal magnetism, aggressive mental suggestion and mesmerism. Any situation or thought that appears to be part of me, but is not from God, is just a false suggestion that has no power or hold on me.
I am so grateful for Christian Science and all the tools we have, including SpiritView, to guide us on the correct path. Thank you, thank you
Dear Evan thank you with your Spiritview, being always on target, it’s Christ in action!
When I read you your post last night it was like a wake up call, “ any thought not in accordance with God like thinking, is mental malpractice” WOW, that surly made me “stand up (mentally)”.
I had just felt agitated when I discovered that a family member had rearranged some items in our home which I felt looked hideous. I went to my study feeling upset, however, opening my emails, crumbs of comfort and awakening came my way; SPIRITVIEW. Immediately I felt refreshed and renewed and seeing the true man; myself and others. I copied your post and placed it on my desk as a reminder to watch thought. Thank you all for Your helpful input.
My adult child keeps doing things that upset me,” is what popped out at me and so good to know that this thought is reversible with God’s healing Truth and Love! A real eye-opener and thanks for sharing to all who contributed.
I was feeling upset today about something that seemed quite unfair. Then I opened my email and found this note from a friend, “Little by little, Day by day, what is meant for you will find its way.” I was healed on the spot! Thank you so much Evan for your all your shepherding thoughts. I’m so grateful to each and every responder that shared today.
So perfect for me today! Thank you
Wow. Especially needed today. Grains of Truth always available to us!
Love, Evan, & all contributors.
Love, Christian Science.
Love, Spiritview.
Love, Love, Love.